Aonung's finned arms wrapped around him, pulling, as he kissed Neteyam slowly, drawing the Omaticaya further into his lap. Teal lips traced over his own blue ones as their chests touched, breathing entwined.
Neteyam brought his hands hesitantly to Aonung's hair, nervous that he might push him away. But he didn't. Instead, he let out a soft moan and kissed him back easily. Neteyam couldn't help but return the sound as Aonung's tongue pushed past his lips and traced over his lower teeth before lightly touching Neteyam's own.
The Omaticaya felt his breath turn shaky as he slid himself closer, needing to feel Aonung, to be reassured by his body. Neteyam slanted his lips back over Aonung and kissed him again, cupping his face carefully as he pressed firmly with his mouth.
Aonung seemed to sense his need for reassurance because he nuzzled his nose into Neteyam's cheek and compiled easily. "My Neteyam," the teal boy murmured softly, rubbing his thumbs up and down the stripes on Neteyam's hips. He felt his chest expand at the words and let out a soft whine as the motion continued.
His own hands trailed down from Aonung's face to rest on his shoulders. He felt the tanhì under his touch, slowly moving down until they fell over the Metkayina's chest. He pressed back into the kiss but paused when he felt a raised line under his fingertips. Neteyam looked down to see a white cut, straight across the Reef Na'vi's pectoral muscles. He ran his fingers over it in confusion.
"What is this?" he asked, unsure.
The line resembled a traditional mating mark.
Aonung hesitated. The Metkayina looked away nervously for a moment before his eyes met Neteyam's. "It is a wound of mourning," he admitted finally.
Neteyam frowned. He had seen his fair share of the lines growing up in a war but he did not realize the Metkayina carried the same tradition. When a Na'vi lost their mate, they made a physical marking of it on their body. Mo'at wore hers across her breastbone, the silver of the scar standing out against the dark blue of the Tsahìk's skin.
Confusion rippled through him. Aonung did not have a mate-? Oh.
"You marked me as your mate?" Neteyam whispered in disbelief, almost unsure if he had heard his first words correctly.
The line was pale against Aonung's already teal chest, but now that he had felt it, he could not unsee it.
The hands on his hips slowly released him, pulling back enough that he could tilt up Neteyam's face to meet his eyes; he seemed almost scared.
"The first day," Aonung whispered, looking up at Neteyam hesitantly. Grief shone in his eyes. "-my mother did not think you were going to make it. The bleeding was too much and your heart had already stopped once..."
Neteyam had not heard this part of the story. His mother had been very cagey with the details, only ever mentioning how strong he was and what a miracle it had been. But he saw the way she looked at him when she thought he wasn't looking. That haunted expression on her face.
Aonung dropped his eyes to the bandages that still wrapped Neteyam's chest. "I could not-" he started, words breaking slightly. "I could not live with myself knowing you would not be with me. So I marked you as I would the loss of a mate."
Neteyam felt at a loss for words.
A teal hand grasped Neteyam's and placed gently upon his chest, just above the line. He could feel Aonung's heart beating anxiously beneath his palm. That clear blue gaze met his, so full of honesty and sadness that he almost stumbled back.
Neteyam stared at him for a moment. And then he slammed their lips together.
Mate. That word played over and over in his head. And suddenly everything that Aonung had said to him in the water rushed back to his mind. The way he held Neteyam close as the blood seemed from his lungs. The panicked expression on his face when his body started to grow limp. The way he practically collapsed in relief on the beach when he pulled Neteyam into his arms. Aonung loved him.
And suddenly he wasn't close enough.
Neteyam grabbed his face and pulled him down, kissing his mouth open further as that word rang through his body. Mate. Aonung let out a soft sound of surprise but immediately kissed him back, rubbing his tongue along Neteyam's and wrapping his arms around his waist.
The warm pressure only urged Neteyam further and he moved his hips back and forth slightly, seeking something more. Aonung happily complied, burying his head in Neteyam's neck, kissing the soft skin there with passion. Unconsciously, he jerked forward with a quiet moan only to brush against the hardness within Aonung's loincloth.
Neteyam let out a low strangled sound as he felt Aonung beneath him.
"I see you," he managed to get out, needing to be as close to the other as he could.
Aonung swiftly pulled back and pressed his forehead against Neteyam's, hands positioning him over his erection. "I see you," he repeated back, eyes firm, before he re-captured Neteyam's lips and started to grind up.
A broken noise escaped his mouth and all sense of composure between the two was lost. He didn't know what he would do without the other. In such a short time, the reef Na'vi had worked his way around Neteyam's heart, tied in with his very being. He did not wish to be parted from him.
Neteyam dragged his lips over the other's mouth, hands cradling the Metkayina's jaw. Aonung kissed him deeply, breathing in Neteyam's air, holding him close. The finned hands moved from his waist to his hips, urging Neteyam to rut against him. Heavy thumbs returned to tracing the blue stripes on his skin causing the Omaticaya to let out a soft moan.
"That's it," Aonung soothed, pressing his lips into Neteyam's jaw as he worked him forward. "Just like that."
His words caused Neteyam to clench slightly and he whimpered against Aonung's skin.
It wasn't long before their breathing was audible throughout the stillness of the marui. Aonung kissed gently behind his ear and soon he was pushing the teal boy's loincloth aside, needing to feel all of him. The chief's son let out a noise of surprise but quickly rid Neteyam of his own garment, working through the ties with deft fingers. The second they connected, a heavy moan fell from both their mouths.
Aonung was hot and hard against Neteyam's skin and he felt a slight wetness begin to leak from the other's tip. It was overwhelmingly wonderful.
"I missed you so much," he admitted into the boy's mouth, nervously burying his head away into Aonung's chest. It felt terrifyingly right to be in the other boy's arms.
"Neteyam," Aonung murmured softly, gently lining their members up together.
Warm hands touched his cheek, pulling Neteyam back so he could look at him. "I am sorry."
His voice was rough and filled with guilty sincerity. "I am so sorry for what I said, Neteyam."
With that he wrapped his large hand around the both of them and thrust up. An embarrassing squeal came out of Neteyam's mouth because it felt so good. His breathing was shaky and he returned the thrust, feeling the way Aonung's cock dragged against his own.
The Metkayina swiped his thumb over the top, making Neteyam shutter involuntarily before he jerked his hips up again, slowly beginning to ride Aonung. To his credit, Aonung let out a groan and buried his head in the crook between Neteyam's neck and shoulder as the slick sounds of their bodies began to fill the marui.
Neteyam worked his hands into Aonung's hair, only noting slightly that the curls were down again before he tangled his fingers into the silky black waves.
The hands on his hips tightened. At this point, it was a mess of who was moving against the other. They were both panting and moaning, tight heat clenching in their stomachs as they rutted against each other.
It was Aonung who pulled Neteyam's face up to his own.
"You are not a plague Neteyam," he said, forcing eye contact, desperate for Neteyam to understand. He pressed up further causing Neteyam to whimper. "You are everything to me."
And then the tremors in his body exploded. Neteyam felt warmth flood his stomach and suddenly white pleasure was coursing through his veins.
With a low whimper and came in Aonung's hand.
Aonung looked down between them and let out a core-clenching groan. He messily kissed into Neteyam's mouth, rubbing against him in quick and rapid strokes before spilling himself as well.
The two leaned against each other, sticky and panting as their breathing echoed throughout the hut as they tried to calm down.
Neteyam brought shaky hands up and cupped Aonung's face, searching his eyes. "I see you," he whispered again to the other, feeling the warmth of his skin.
Aonung looked up at him, breath shaky, and pressed him closer. "I see you, Neteyam," he returned, pure adoration across his beautiful teal face.
He didn't realize he was crying, it was soft really, only a few tears dripping down his cheeks in a silent pattern. Aonung just pulled him closer and nuzzled them away.
After they cleaned up, Aonung lowered Neteyam back to the ground and helped him to put his loincloth back on. Neteyam noticed how Aonung's was leather at the hips but transitioned to pleated kelp fabric. His own was a simple leather cloth, dyed purple like his mother's. Neteyam absently touched the stripes on Aonung's thighs, darker there than the ones on his arm.
"You know," Aonung said, noticing the twisted parts of Neteyam's bandages. "Tsireya might be tsakarem, but I do know a thing or two."
Neteyam let out an amused huff and pushed Aonung's hands away from the wrappings. "Oh, well then by those standards, I am a fearsome reef Na'vi," he retorted.
Aonung brushed a few braids away from Neteyam's face and grinned at him. One hand came up and teased the edge of the bandages. "Maybe you are."
Neteyam couldn't help but grin back, laughing a little as reached for the healing paste himself.
Aonung stopped him, grabbing Neteyam's wrists in his own hands. His voice lowered, words sincere and pleading. "Let me do this for you. Please."
Neteyam swallowed once but relented, slowly leaning back.
Aonung untangled the wrappings and gently peeled them back, careful not to touch the actual padding that was pressed into the wound. His eyes were focused as he worked, the clear sea-glass color raw and intense. Neteyam winced slightly as he brushed over a particularly sensitive point at his side, where the first bullet had only grazed him. He hated feeling so weak.
Aonung placed an apologetic kiss to Neteyam's face and rubbed the salve into the cuts before re-wrapping the cloth around his torso.
"Thank you," he said quietly, pulling Aonung in for a kiss. The Metkayina complied happily and cupped his jaw gently before pressing their lips back together.
The sound of footsteps outside the walkway sent Neteyam quickly shifting away.
Aonung stood up swiftly as Neytiri entered alongside Jake, conversing casually about their day. They stopped at the entryway upon seeing their eldest son being treated by the Metkayina heir.
Neytiri's eyes flicked between the two of them knowingly but his father frowned, looking back and forth in confusion.
"Aonung," he greeted in surprise, stepping into the family home.
The teal boy quickly ducked his head in a show of respect. "Toruk Makto."
It was very clear to Neteyam which one of his parents knew and which one didn't. Neytiri's expression was soft, wandering her golden gaze over to her son, noticing the way his chest was re-bandaged and how he stared up at Aonung's hands. The ones that had been touching him so tenderly just moments ago.
'He sat with you the first three days ' she had told him when he first woke up. She must have known for a while.
Jake, on the other hand, looked completely baffled as to why the chief's son was standing in the middle of his marui.
His mate looked up at him expectantly before slapping his arm and raising a brow. "Ma Jake, it is polite to say something in return," she chastised.
A look of realization hit his father's face and he coughed awkwardly. "Right, sorry. Um it's good to see you again kid."
Aonung brought his hand to his forehead and gestured respectfully to both Na'vi, his movements stiff and too formal, making him come across as blocky. He's nervous, Neteyam realized.
Neytiri smiled and returned the gesture while Jake still seemed puzzled by the entire situation.
"I should go," Aonung said, looking towards the quickly darkening entrance.
Neteyam stood, not realizing his hand still contained the armband Aonung had re-given to him.
Neytiri took her husband's hand and dragged him to the opposite room of the hut, shushing his questions. "We will give you two some privacy."
Neteyam hesitantly made his way over to Aonung. Those teal blue eyes met his and the Metkayina softly pulled him into his embrace. Neteyam rested his head against his shoulder and hugged him back.
Finned hands found his own, entwining their fingers around the woven band. It was getting dark out.
"Will you meet me at the beach tonight?" Aonung asked, looking at Neteyam with a smile. "There is someone I want to introduce you to."
Curiosity piqued Neteyam's interest and he nodded, touching his forehead to Aonung's. The boy cupped his face quickly, looking down at him with what could only be described as love, before kissing him quickly and disappearing from the marui's entrance.
Neteyam held the armband up to the dying light of day and studied it for the first time. Underneath the familiar dull pearl, three larger ones had been added, creating a star-like pattern.